1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated ceramic electronic component, and in particular, relates to a laminated ceramic electronic component that includes an external conductor including a plating film disposed directly on the outer surface of a ceramic element assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with increases in the speed of ICs mounted in electronic devices, the frequencies of noise leaking from power sources of the ICs onto boards are increased. In addition, with decreases in the operating voltages of ICs, the voltages of power sources are likely to vary.
In view of this, a line-bypass capacitor that has a high noise removal capability and that can suppress a voltage variation of a power source is required, and a chip-type three-terminal capacitor as a suitable capacitor has been disclosed. The chip-type three-terminal capacitor has excellent capability to bypass a high-frequency signal to a ground, and also has an excellent response to a sudden power requirement from a load side, and thus can stabilize a voltage supplied to an IC.
The chip-type three-terminal capacitor has a structure in which a pair of signal terminal electrodes and a ground terminal electrode are provided on the outer surface of a capacitor body. As the ground terminal electrode, a terminal electrode is formed so as to extend on two principal surfaces and two side surfaces of the capacitor body so as to extend around the capacitor body. In this case, an unnecessary inductance component can be reduced. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-299145 discloses a method for forming a terminal electrode that extends on two principal surfaces and two side surfaces of a component body so as to extend around the component body.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-299145 as well, in the related art, in order to form a terminal electrode that extends around a component body as described above, a conductive paste is applied to the two principal surfaces and the two side surfaces of the component body and is fired. However, in the case of a thick-film-type terminal electrode, the following problems may occur.
Due to the influence of the rheology of the conductive paste, the terminal electrode has a terminal shape in which the center thereof is raised and has an increased thickness. Thus, when being mounted on a board, the raised portion of the terminal electrode may come into contact with the board causing the chip to roll so as to not be mounted properly or accurately.
In addition, it is necessary to apply the conductive paste to four surfaces, and thus the efficiency of formation of the terminal electrode is low.
The above problems can be encountered on one level or another not only when a terminal electrode is formed so as to extend on two principal surfaces and two side surfaces of a component body to extend around the component body, but also when a terminal electrode is formed so as to extend across at least one principal surface. Other than the chip-type three-terminal capacitor, the same problems may occur in other types of electronic components.